ch is
dated Sept. 1, 1651, and bears to be subscribed by certain
commissioners of the church, authorizing George Ogilvy of Harras, to
deliver up to Lord Balcarres, the Registers of the Kirk that were in
his house (Reg. of Deeds, 6 March, 1701. Dr. M'Crie's Mem. of Veitch
and Brysson, Append. p. 525.) There can be little doubt that these
were the original records of the church, which were produced and
identified at the meeting of the General Assembly at Glasgow, in the
year 1638. (Id. p. 497. "Rec. of the Kirk," vol. l. pp. 22-24,
Edited by A. Peterkin.) It is boldly asserted by Gordon, parson of
Rothiemay, that the old authentic records of the Assemblies were at
that time in the hands of Archbishop Spottiswood, who had carried
them with him, he says, to London, though he more cautiously adds,
in a _nota_, "It is _very uncertaine_ if the registers presented wer
the principalls, or if only copyes." ("History of Scots Affairs,"
vol. i. pp. 146, 147. Aberdeen. Printed for the Spalding Club,
1841.) Keith tells us in what way these records afterwards came into
the possession of Mr. Archibald Campbell, a Scottish non-juring
clergyman residing in London, by whom they were most unjustifiably
detained from the Church after the Revolution, and subsequently
gifted to Sion College, the governors of which being expressly
restricted from permitting them to pass out of their custody.
("Hist. of the Aff. of Church and State in Scot.," p. 497.) After
some delay on the part of the governors, the long concealed records,
bound up in three volumes, and embracing the whole period between
1560 and 1616, were given up by them for inspection, in the year
1834, to the Select Committee of the House of Commons on Church
Patronage. ("Minutes of Evidence," pp. 126, 355, 374.) Dr. Lee, one
of the witnesses before the Committee, declared, after examining
them, he was quite certain that they were "authentic records." (Id.
p. 450). The loss of such invaluable archives, soon after this,
which now appears to be placed beyond all doubt, in consequence of
the destruction of the House of Commons by fire, is much to be
deplored.--_Ed._]

394 [At the Restoration, Mr. Moncrieff was ejected from his parish, for
the part he had acted in framing or sanctioning the